Special Forces Search al-Qaida Homes

Published 8:00 pm, Friday, January 4, 2002

Mirweis sidled his motorcycle up to a U.S. Special Forces pickup truck as it was pulled over along a southern highway Saturday.

Could the men take some mines out of a relative's house? he asked in broken English. And oh yes, the house was abandoned by Arabs who left some al-Qaida papers and books there, too.

Mirweis, who gave only one name, led the way.

The spacious house, where workers were repairing patios and replacing windows after the previous occupants fled in last month's collapse of Taliban rule, is one of many where the Green Berets have found training materials linked to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network.

Mirweis' family turned over a two-inch-thick Arabic-language chemistry textbook and a "Bombs and Mines" training manual, complete with diagrams and photocopied pictures. A teen-age relative handed over a stack of documents that Steve, a master sergeant from Kansas, described as more "homework for terrorist school."

The books were typical of al-Qaida training materials, said Steve. Texts collected have included "everything from your very basic elementary skills to your advanced, hard-core terrorist type," he said.

Under ground rules for journalists covering U.S. Special Forces, soldiers could not be fully identified without their consent. Citing security, all declined.

After the Sept. 11 terror strikes on the United States, Special Forces soldiers on the ground trained and aided Afghan opposition groups to overthrow Afghanistan's Taliban leadership, which had sheltered bin Laden. These days, the elite troops also are searching for hidden militants and intelligence information, plus working with Afghans to find weapons and make recommendations on the needs of cities as they rebuild.

Items collected are skimmed through by Special Forces and passed on for further analysis.

Makulsha, Mirweis' cousin and a 47-year-old businessman, said Yemenis had been staying at the house for about a year. He wasn't clear about who owned the house during that time, but said he was the current owner.

The Special Forces team that collected the documents also took care of Makulsha's bigger worry: small piles of anti-tank mines and heavy ammunition tossed aside in a strip of dried brush and dirt along the inside of the compound wall.

After clearing curious relatives and neighbors from the area, Cale, a staff sergeant from Texas, carefully checked for booby traps before removing the mines and taking them to the truck.

Satisfied all around, Steve and Cale accepted an invitation to the back patio for a cup of sweet tea before heading back to their Kandahar base.

"This is the best part of this job right here _ to be able to interact with these people," Cale said.